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Monday, November 9, 2020

Covid-19: Global stock markets rocket on vaccine hopes

 

A Covid-19 vaccine trialIMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES

Stock markets have rocketed on hopes of a potential breakthrough in the search for a vaccine against Covid-19.

Drugs firm Pfizer's own shares leapt 14% after it said that preliminary analysis indicated that its coronavirus vaccine was 90% effective.

Markets, already buoyed in response to a clear end to the US election, piled on gains and the FTSE 100 jumped 5%.

But as airlines, hotels and others hit hardest by the pandemic rose by up to 53%, firms benefitting from it dived.

Other markets in Europe made similar gains to those seen in London. And in the US, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 opened 5.6% and 3.6% higher respectively.

It is very rare for markets to jump by such large margins, and in the case of the UK saw the FTSE 100 adding £82bn to the value of its shares in the market's best day since March.

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Analysis box by Simon Jack, business editor

Markets are primarily about sentiment - does tomorrow look better than today - and in that regard there has been a radical and probably permanent sea change.

With more vaccines in development that optimism could grow.

What this result demonstrates is that while the virus is not yet beaten it is beatable.

That ray of light has lit up stock markets around the world.

As always, some people in the markets are already looking for something else to worry about.

If we are returning to a semblance of normality in the months ahead, do the US authorities really need a stimulus package as big as the $3tn to $4tn being discussed by the Biden team?

But for now, the markets, like the rest of us, are enjoying the warm glow of the first significant sentiment boost since the virus started ravaging the world economy.

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